CDC: Polio Booster for Visitors to Israel

If you were vaccinated as a child but have never had an additional dose, CDC says you should get one.

Gil Ronen, 02/09/13 19:41

Child given polio vaccine in Be'er Sheva

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Atlanta based Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that people visiting Israel get a polio vaccination or booster shot.

“You may need a polio vaccine before your trip to Israel,” says the CDC website. “If you were vaccinated against polio as a child but have never had an additional dose as an adult, you should get an additional dose. Adults need only one additional dose in their lives.”

“If you were not completely vaccinated as a child or do not know your vaccination status, talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated.”

“If visiting Israel with children, it is especially important to make sure they are up-to-date on their routine polio vaccinations.”

Almost all children in Israel born from 2004 and onwards have been vaccinated for polio in recent weeks. The decision was made after the virus was found in samples taken from the wastewater treatment facilities in Lod and Ramle.

Fears of a polio outbreak were sparked earlier in the summer when the virus turned up in sewage samples in the south.

Further testing showed that roughly 2.5% of children in southern Israel, where many children have not been vaccinated, carry the virus.

So far there have been no cases of children actually contracting the disease.